The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-01-19
HORSES In JAPAN.
LARGEST BREEDING FARM IN
THE WORLD. q
The Imperial Pasture of Slmosa---.
A Remarkable Enclosure of
Large Area Containing More
Than 100000 Horses. .

Large Area Containing More
Than 100000 Horses.
There are large breeding establiss -
ments in many parts of the world, but it
is doubtful il there is now, or ever was,
q breeding establishment in any others;;
country that could equal the great horse +
pasture of Simo "a. in Japan. Nearly q !
thousand years ago the main island tof
the Japanese Empire was about equally
divided between the conquering race
and tho sborigincs. the conguerorsE
held the southern half and the aborlgines
the northern half. One of the reigning
Tycoons determ ned upon the conquest /
of the aborigines, and resent 8 large and5
well equipped army across the Hakoni
range into the abor. .ginal territory. After
long war, in VIII Oh there were many
bloody battles, the sborigines were de-
featcd and driven north. The territory
conquered comprises all the country
around Toxic, the capital, and several
provinces still north Of that. Within
the boundaries of. this conquest were;
what are now cal ed the t'Plains Of
Simosa" These plains we're found to-,
be admirably adapted to grazing. They
are about forty miles east of Toxic, be-,
tween the head of the bay of yeddo and
the ocean, and are three hundred or four I
hundred ieet above the sen level. They
are in fact peninsula table lands. From
these plains considerable number OF
small streams have their source. The
larger part of this surface is scovered with I
grasses, indigenous to that country,
among which arr several kinds of clovers,A x
bunch grasses and u fescue grass. At
intervals there are groves of pines, oaks, +
beech and maple trees. 81 ~ jss y
It was determined to establish th-re q 2
pasture where the best cavalry horses;
could be bred and in such numbers that
their whole cavalry could be suppled
with fresh mounts at any time. Ordi-
nary Enclosures, and even subdivision
fences, could have been built with little
labor and cost, but ordinary fences would
not have met the requirements. The,
Japanese population was then three hum
dred or four hundred miles south of thai
point. Two hundred miles north were
the defeated but still unconquered abort
gines, ready to pounce down upon their
invaders whenever favorable opportu-1
nifty presented. Under these circum!
stances fortified fence was demanded
To thus inclose peninsula fifty miles by
seventy miles wai Il gigantic work, but
when an absolute, authority, with nli-rSs
lions of submissive people ready to obey
that authority, determines to do q work:
the amount of labor involved does not
stand in the way of its accomplishment. :
An imperial decree was issued, ordering
each feudal Prince in the Empire to send
o certain number of laborers to build the
inclosure and t. make permanent settle
ments there. All the lands bordering
the streams. susceptible of irrigation,
were allotted to the laborers for homess
From every province laborers, with their
families, poured in, and in q short time
$50 villages were built along the line ofs
the proposed inclosure. Crops for the
food of these workers were planted, and
the work on tho fortified fences began
with impressive ceremonies, BETTING the 1
importance of this project. e &.
The outer inc,osure was sYlid earth 9
embankment, sixteen feet high. 1t was
built to conform to the borders of thc
table lands, which on the bay and ocean.
sides were very irregular. These irreSu;
larities increas> d the length ofthe ems
bankment, and, as the land a'ong tho
streams allotted to the settlers could not
be included in the pasture, this great
embankment had to be run up one side Of.
the stream nearly to its source and then
back again down the other side. As
there were many of these streams the
amount of embankment was enormously
increased. In book published by the
Government many years ago the length
of this outer fortified ferce or embank-
ment ia stated to b, five hundred miles.
From two years residence on this table
land, riding every day through vario:sss
portions of this old horse pasture, 1 be-
lieye this statement is within the 4
bounds of truth After this outer ern-
bankment was finished 1t was sown with :
O grass called "Hea," which becomes
more deeply rooted in the soil than any
other known grass. In that case the
roots ran through the whole of. the.
masses of earth, and have thus held theny,
toeether so firm Y that the embankments
have not perceptibly washed or wealth
cred through all the centuries which
have intervened since their construction.
On the top of this embankment row OF
trees was planted This inclosure formed
q very strong defense, and even II an
enemy had stormed and taken it, it /
would have been impossible to get the 4
horses out, except at the gates. which J
were still more strongly fortified, and S
detachment OF mounted troops was sta
toned at each one. At convenient points
corrals wele built. and these were made
double strong. They were built by throw.
ing up embankments twenty-five and
even thirty feet high. go
In case tie ab3rigines had succeeded
in getting inside the outer embankment,
the horses were to have been run into
these immense corrals and defended /,
there. The aborigines never succeeded
in getting into the pasture, and If they Z
had the corrals would not have been
needed, for in few years these horses
became so wild that the whole Sioux
tribe of Indians could not have caught
them. The work of building the outer I,
embankment occupied many years, and ,
the construction of the corrals many
more. Then all this great plain or table
land was sub-divided into smaller pas,
lures containing from 500 to 1000 acres Z
each. The subdivision embankments
were made twelve feet high, and the au- :
thority above quoted places the total
length of these $500 miles. This work
was all done by manual labor, the